Thursday, October 27, 2011

Have you wondered what ambrosia tastes like? Sure! It tastes like a piece of this dessert.

Caramel custard is a rich, light, silky and luscious dessert. It has an impressive shiny appeal, a golden color and a divine flavor.Sugar syrup cooked to caramel stage is poured into the mold and then filled with custard. It is cooked on a stovetop or in the oven and set in the refrigerator to chill. It is served inverted with the layer of soft caramel on top.

This dessert is my family’s favorite and one of my mom’s classic desserts. Every time she made it, we would sit around the dining table and she would invert the big dish on to the plate to unmold the custard. As she gently lifts the dish, we would eagerly look at the slowly uncovering custard and the caramel running down from it. A moment worth waiting for is to see the creamy, smooth custard in entirety with the layer of caramel shinning on top. Every piece of the silky custard with caramel sauce over it is a real treat.

Caramel Custard

Makes - 6 Servings

For Custard

For Caramel

Milk

– 2 cups

Sugar

– 1 cup

Eggs

– 3

Sugar

– 1/3 cup

Vanilla Essence

– 2 tsp

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Heat the milk until very hot. Turn off and let it cool while you prepare rest of the ingredients.

I start with the milk first to give it sometime to cool before combining it with egg.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the sugar until you reach a nice golden color.

Be very careful! The caramel will continue to darken once removed from the heat and you can end up with a bitter caramel. I turn off the heat as soon as the sugar has caramelized and the color starts to turn amber.

Divide it among 4 ramekins. Let the caramel cool for about 5-10 minutes to harden.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until pale and well blended.

Slowly pour the milk over the eggs/sugar mixture little by little and whisk until well incorporated.

The key here is to add milk little by little as adding hot milk all at once will cook the eggs!

Now, beat in the vanilla essence and let the mixture cool for a bit.

You can run the mixture through a sieve/colander to remove any lumps that could have formed while combining hot milk and egg mixture.

Prepare the water bath for baking. Pour some hot water to about an inch deep in a deep baking pan.

Pour the egg custard mixture on top of the caramel filled ramekins.

Set your ramekins into the baking pan. Add more water if necessary; the water bath should come to about half way up the sides of the dishes.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes until the custards are just set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Carefully remove from the oven, remove the ramekins from the water bath, and let them cool to room temperature. Refrigerate and chill for about 4 hours before serving.

To serve, run a thin sharp knife along the side of the ramekin to loosen and invert onto dessert plates. Shake gently or slowly tap on base of the inverted ramekin to release onto the plates.